With two straight wins, Johnson is virtually assured of a spot in the Chase. And with NASCAR’s new Chase rules — which place more emphasis on winning — Johnson can now gamble to try to win more races and begin testing to prepare for the 10-race Chase.

“Really it changes your strategy at some racetracks,” Johnson said Friday at Pocono. “This would be one of them. Fuel mileage is a big part of the finish of this race. Tire strategy also comes into play and we can swing for the fences here, which makes that a lot of fun. And hopefully I can save gas, which I really don’t do a good job of.”

Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports team are also starting to look at the overall picture — like preparing for the Chase and trying to help teammate Kasey Kahne get in.

Hendrick has four wins so far this season, with Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. all earning Chase spots with wins. Kahne, meanwhile, has struggled, dropping to 18th in points with a 19th-place finish last week at Dover.

“As a group, we want all four cars in the Chase, and we need to get Kasey a win,” Johnson said. “That part is still kind of out there. We’re three-quarters of the way there to having a full testing plan and focus solely on the Chase. So hopefully we can get the No. 5 car a win soon and let that go the rest of the way.”

Johnson said Kahne, who has 16 career victories, is getting frustrated.

“I guess there is frustration there and I kind of put disappointment too because he has had a lot of solid runs going and, whack, things happen,” Johnson said. “I know their cars are fast so it’s kind of a frustration/disappointment they haven’t been able to capitalize.”

Johnson said he got setup help from Kahne’s team in winning the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte last month and the two cars had similar setups again last week at Dover, where Johnson also won.

“We are all working very hard together and very close with Kasey,” he said. “We were just at a test session in New Hampshire and talked in great detail about our cars and what is going on. We even considered swapping rides. Things got a little hectic in the afternoon because of some weather where it didn’t work out, but we are doing everything we can to really elevate Hendrick and then also help those guys get their win.”

In the meantime, Johnson, the six-time champion, can start testing and preparing for another title run.

“Yeah, looking ahead it does start to change things for a test plan,” Johnson said. “There’s an old testing procedure and we can select tracks just for the No. 48 to test at; (winning) would definitely impact that.”